Sugar Free Chocolate Cheesecake

Maven's Intense Chocolate Cheesecake

Total time until you can actually consume a slice: 5 hours? Maybe?

Preheat oven: 350; Put the top rack in dead center of oven; put lower rack directly under, situated with a low baking tray (casserole sized like for lasagne) of HOT water

Ingredients:

3 packs Neufschatel cheese (or Philly Brand cream cheese); total weight 1.5 lbs (Room temp)

9 oz Baker's Chocolate or Ghiardelli chocolate (bitter), NO SUGAR* (MELTED)

2 Cups sour cream

3 Eggs

1.5 teaspoons Vanilla

1 Pinch salt

1 Tablespoon Xanthan Gum powder (or if carbs/sugar are not an issue, corn starch)

2 Cups Malitol*

1/5 to 1 Cup Splenda*

*If you wish to make this with regular sugar, use 1 Cup regular semisweet chocolate chips, and 1 1/2 Cups sugar

1 Pack sugar free cookies (I prefer the Oreo styled ones, as you don't need to mix in butter to form the crust. Crunch up to crumbs, press into Pam sprayed springform pan.

2-3 Tablespoons Nutella (This is the only thing containing actual sugar, use sparingly)

1 Cup Smuckers sugar free Strawberry Preserves

1 Quart strawberries, washed, hulled

Procedure:

1. Melt chocolate in microwave, 30 seconds at a time (takes about 1 minute to 1.5 minutes to melt).
2. Blend chocolate thoroughly with room temp Neufschatel/cream cheese.
3. In a separate bowl, blend all remaining batter ingredients together, then incorporate with chocolate cream cheese mixture.
4. Pour into prepared springform pan (depending on the size of the springform, you might have some "leftovers", pour left overs into Pam sprayed custard cups.
5. Bake for 45 minutes. DO NOT OPEN OVEN.
6. Turn oven off. Leave cheesecake in oven for ONE HOUR.
7. I SAID DO NOT OPEN DOOR.
8. I MEANT IT!
9. DO YOU WANT YOUR CAKE TO SCREW UP?
10. After one hour, remove from oven, and let cool for ONE HOUR before putting in fridge.
11. LET IT COOL ONE HOUR.
12. DO YOU WANT YOUR CAKE TO CRACK?
13. After the cake is thoroughly cooled: Spread 2-3 tablespoons of Nutella on top of cake. This will form the "cement" the strawberries will sit upon. You can use less if you can spread it thin enough.
14. In a microwave safe bowl, put strawberry preserves and nuke for about 30 seconds, until liquified.
15. Coat fresh strawberries with this "glaze" and arrange berries (cut side down) onto cake.
16. Return to fridge so the preserves will set back up.

Although my favorite cakes tend to be things like a Red Velvet, a good moist Carrot Cake or a Laby Baltimore cake... cheesecake (or better yet, my Manna Mocha Torte) is just too decadent for words. My birthday is coming up, and perhaps I'll make my cheesecake ultra lemony, no chocolate (unless I can find UNSWEETENED WHITE CHOCOLATE, perhaps a trip to the King Arthur Flour Co's site might render a positive verdict on that one), with a crunchy coconutty merinque or coconutty shortbread crust, and make some Sugar Free Lemon Curd on top, and maybe top it with some raspberries, if they are still in season.